Today's "Trumpy Tribune" News

Two entries/pages today. Non-Trumpy news appears in the second entry. Whatever comment you may wish to make, please enter it under the Trumpy Tribune page.

** Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "In total, the government has recovered more than 300 documents with classified markings from Mr. Trump since he left office, [multiple] people said: that first batch of documents returned in January, another set provided by Mr. Trump's aides to the Justice Department in June and the material seized by the F.B.I. in the search this month.... And the extent to which such a large number of highly sensitive documents remained at Mar-a-Lago for months ... suggested to officials that the former president or his aides had been cavalier in handling it, not fully forthcoming with investigators, or both.... Mr. Trump went through the boxes himself in late 2021 ... before turning them over.... The Justice Department investigation is continuing, suggesting that officials are not certain whether they have recovered all the presidential records that Mr. Trump took with him from the White House.... Even after the extraordinary decision by the F.B.I. to execute a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago on Aug. 8, investigators have sought additional surveillance footage from the club....

“Mr. Trump's allies insist that the president had a 'standing order' to declassify material that left the Oval Office for the White House residence, and have claimed that the General Services Administration, not Mr. Trump's staff, packed the boxes with the documents.... National Archives officials spent much of 2021 trying to get back material from Mr. Trump, after learning that roughly two dozen boxes of presidential records material had been lingering in the White House residence for several months.... In May, after conducting a series of witness interviews, the department issued a subpoena for the return of remaining classified material....

"On June 3, Jay Bratt, the chief of the counterespionage section of the national security division of the Justice Department, went to Mar-a-Lago to meet with two of Mr. Trump's lawyers, Evan Corcoran and Christina Bobb, and retrieve any remaining classified material.... Mr. Corcoran went through the boxes himself to identify classified material beforehand.... Mr. Corcoran showed Mr. Bratt the basement storage room [off a well-trafficked hallway] where, he said, the remaining material had been kept.... Mr. Corcoran then drafted a statement, which Ms. Bobb, who is said to be the custodian of the documents, signed. It asserted that, to the best of her knowledge, all classified material that was there had been returned....

"While much of the [Mar-a-Lago security] footage [the DOJ obtained] showed hours of club employees walking through the busy corridor, some of it raised concerns for investigators, according to people familiar with the matter. It revealed people moving boxes in and out, and in some cases, appearing to change the containers some documents were held in." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If you don't have a NYT subscription, this article would be a good one on which to "spend" one of your monthly freebies. It's a lot easier to read than are my chopped-up "highlights." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie's Notes:

(1) I know I'm repeating myself, but here's a reminder that Trump's waving his Special Declassification Wand over a roomful of boxes does not make documents contained therein any more or less sensitive.

(2) "Mr. Trump went through the boxes himself, according to multiple people briefed on his efforts, before turning them over." Don't you suppose as he was going through the boxes, he was telling an aide, "Copy this one, copy this one." You can bet Trump has squirreled away copies somewhere ... else. To interested parties, a copy of a strategic top-secret document is just as valuable as the original.

(3) Presuming some of these "multiple people" talked to or will talk to investigators, there's your evidence that Trump was the hands-on leader of the gang of docu-thieves. As Rachel Maddow put it Monday night, Trump's personal review of the boxes' contents "writes itself into the indictment."

(4) Quite a few people besides Trump seem to have handled those classified docs at Mar-a-Lago, among them Trump himself, the lawyers Corcoran & Bobb as well as the "people moving boxes in and out." You can be pretty sure that few or none of those people had top-secret clearance.

(5) "... two dozen boxes of presidential records material had been lingering in the White House residence for several months...." Those "lingering boxes" would have been accessible to a variety of White House staff & sundry guests of Donald & Melanie, most of whom did not have clearance to read them or take them home in their underwear.

(6) Corcoran & Bobb, by respectively drafting & signing a statement that all of the classified docs had been returned, put themselves in legal jeopardy. (As national security attorney Bradley Moss put it on MSNBC, "MAGA stands for "Make Attorneys Get Attorneys.") Either Corcoran & Moss were lying or Trump misinformed them. I'll bet they will be easy to flip. Andrew Weissman, a lead attorney on the Mueller investigation, said on MSNBC, "That is exactly what happened in the Paul Manafort case. Manafort told his lawyers what to convey to the Justice Department, which appeared to be untrue. We quickly got an order saying there was no attorney-client privilege there. The lawyers then said they had relied on Manafort's representations, and we charged Manafort with lying." (Paraphrase.)

Kyle Cheney of Politico: "The federal magistrate judge who authorized the warrant to search Donald Trump;s Mar-a-Lago estate emphasized Monday that he 'carefully reviewed' the FBI's sworn evidence before signing off and considers the facts contained in an accompanying affidavit to be 'reliable.' Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart offered his assessment in a 13-page order memorializing his decision to consider whether to unseal portions of the affidavit, which describe the evidence the bureau relied on to justify the search of the former president's home. Reinhart ruled last week that he would consider unsealing portions of the affidavit after conferring with the Justice Department and determining whether proposed redactions would be sufficient to protect the ongoing criminal investigation connected to the search. But in his order, Reinhart emphasized that he may ultimately agree with prosecutors that any redactions would be so extensive that they would render the document useless." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh yeah? That's what Politico says. Bearing in mind that Politico is somewhat right-wingy, it is not nearly right-wingy enough. The headline on the Fox "News"' report covering the same judge's same ruling is, "Judge Reinhart formally rejects DOJ argument to keep Trump affidavit sealed, calls raid 'unprecedented.'" This is largely bull. The written order backs up Judge Reinhart's oral order delivered last week, telling the prosecution to produce a redacted copy of the affidavit for his consideration. In the order, Reinhart acknowledges that it's possible that "partial redactions will be so extensive that they will result in a meaningless disclosure, but I may ultimately reach that conclusion...." As for a "raid" on Mar-a-Lardo, I did a wordsearch of the judge's order, and the only reference to a "raid" is a Business Insider headline & link about how Breitbart & a former Trump aide have doxxed FBI agents involved in the search. Judge Reinhart does not use the term "raid." As for "unprecedented," well, yeah. Reinhart does refer to "an unprecedented search of a former President's residence." That's because law enforcement has never had to search the home of a real president. Since the passage in 1978 of the Presidential Records Act (in response to Nixon's plan to retain his papers [and tapes!]), no real president has been suspected of stealing documents & other items from the White House.

     ~~~ Probable Cause? According to Judge Reinhart's order, "On August 5, 2022, the Court issued a search warrant for the Premises after finding probable cause that evidence of multiple federal crimes would be found at the Premises ('the Warrant'). An FBI Special Agent's sworn affidavit ('the Affidavit') provided the facts to support the probable cause finding." Emphasis added. ~~~

Motion ad Whinem. Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Hours after Judge Reinhart issued the order, lawyers for Mr. Trump filed a motion asking another federal judge [Aileen Cannon] in Florida -- ... whom Mr. Trump named to the bench -- to appoint an independent arbiter, known as a special master, to review the documents seized during the search for any that fell outside the scope of the warrant or that were protected by executive privilege or attorney-client privilege. The motion, which was filled with bombastic complaints about the search -- 'The government has long treated President Donald J. Trump unfairly,' it said at one point -- also asked the Justice Department to provide an 'informative receipt' of what was taken from Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump's home and club in Florida, on Aug. 8. His lawyers wrote that the inventory left at the property by the agents who conducted the search was 'legally deficient' and did 'little to identify' the seized material.... 'The United States will file its response in court,' [a DOJ spokesman said]." This report also covers Judge Reinhart's order. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post story, by Perry Stein & others, is here. The Guardian's story on the Trump's motion for a special master is here.

     ~~~ Andrew Weissmann, appearing on MSNBC, said he was tempted to call Trump's motion a press release and noted that it was full of false statements. DOJ lawyers, he noted, often remark that the department expresses itself in court, so its response to the "press release" may be of interest, filling out some of the info that might be blocked in the search warrant affidavit. ~~~

     ~~~ Stephen Collinson of CNN: "... Trump's filing -- the most concrete and aggressive formal legal move in the case so far -- is a classic of its genre. It fits squarely into the ex-President's history of using the legal system to delay, distract, distort and politicize accusations against him, a strategy that has often worked well to spare or postpone serious accountability. And it is also a characteristic example of how the former President often mixes and matches political and legal strategies when he comes under investigation."

Kyle Cheney of Politico: "The National Archives found more than 700 pages of classified material -- including 'special access program materials,' some of the most highly classified secrets in government -- in 15 boxes recovered from Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in January, according to correspondence between the National Archivist and his legal team. The May 10 letter -- posted late Monday on the website of John Solomon, a conservative journalist and one of Trump's authorized authorized liaisons to the National Archives to review papers from his presidency -- showed that NARA and federal investigators had grown increasingly alarmed about potential damage to national security caused by the warehousing of these documents at Mar-a-Lago, as well as by Trump's resistance to sharing them with the FBI.... [The letter, from National Archivist Deborah Wall,] describes earlier correspondence in which Trump's team objected to disclosing the contents of the 15 boxes to the FBI.... The letter also shows that... DOJ asked President Joe Biden to authorize NARA to provide the records to investigators despite an effort by Trump to claim executive privilege over the records. Wall indicated she had rejected Trump's claim because of the significance of the documents to national security.... Biden, according to Wall, then delegated the privilege decision to her, in consultation with the Justice Department."

Jamie Gangel & Evan Perez of CNN: "The Justice Department has issued a new grand jury subpoena to the National Archives for more documents as part of its investigation into the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, two sources familiar with the investigation tell CNN. This latest subpoena, issued on August 17, is in addition to a subpoena the Department of Justice sent to the Archives earlier this year, requesting the same documents and information that the Archives had previously handed over to the House select committee investigating January 6."

Andrew Desiderio of Politico: "The group of congressional leaders charged with reviewing the most sensitive intelligence information has asked the Biden administration for access to the documents seized from ... Donald Trump's private residence in Florida, according to two people with direct knowledge of the request. The inquiry from the so-called 'Gang of 8' comes as lawmakers from both parties ... [are] unwilling to be ... bystander[s] in the political and legal fallout following the FBI's Aug. 8 search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla. It follows a similar request from Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Vice Chair Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), two Gang of 8 members who asked the nation's top intelligence official to draw up an assessment of possible national-security risks related to Trump's handling of the sensitive documents."

Geneva Sands of CNN: "The phones of several top Trump-era Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials were deactivated when they left their positions and the data contained on them likely wiped, a court filing released late last week shows. The revelation came in a public records dispute between ICE and watchdog group American Oversight, which has sought emails and text messages from former acting ICE directors Thomas Homan, Matthew Albence and Ronald Vitiello in a controversial immigration-related case.... Under Trump-era rules, ICE instructed employees to erase data from their agency-issued mobile phones when they returned their devices or left the agency, according to the court filing."

Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "The main argument against prosecuting Donald Trump -- or investigating him with an eye toward criminal prosecution == is that it will worsen an already volatile fracture in American society between Republicans and Democrats.... But [this notion] rests on two assumptions that can't support the weight that's been put on them. The first is the idea that American politics has, with Trump's departure from the White House, returned to a kind of normalcy.... [The other] is that it treats inaction as an apolitical and stability-enhancing move -- something that preserves the status quo as opposed to action, which upends it.... Fear of what Trump and his supports might do cannot and should not stand in the way of what we must do to secure the Constitution from all its enemies, foreign and domestic."

In yesterday's Comments thread, both Patrick & Ken W. warned us to get out the barf bags before reading National Review editor Rich Lowry's fact-challenged op-ed in the New York Times about what he claims is the "partisan" and "suspicious" nature of the investigations of Donald Trump. It seems Brian Beutler of Crooked agrees with Patrick & Ken:

Nearly every paragraph of Rich Lowry’s execrable op-ed contains a deception, delusion, or lie, but this part here is where he confesses to marrow-deep GOP corruption: if Trump faces real accountability for actual crimes, the GOP will gin up false pretexts to imprison Democrats. pic.twitter.com/7Vu4Sz27lc

— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) August 22, 2022

Jon Swaine, et al., of the Washington Post: "Sensitive election system files obtained by attorneys [-- notably Sidney Powell --] working to overturn ... Donald Trump's 2020 defeat were shared with election deniers, conspiracy theorists and right-wing commentators, according to records reviewed by The Washington Post. A Georgia computer forensics firm [SullivanStrickler], hired by the attorneys, placed the files on a server, where company records show they were downloaded dozens of times. Among the downloaders were accounts associated with a Texas meteorologist who has appeared on Sean Hannity's radio show; a podcaster who suggested political enemies should be executed; a former pro surfer who pushed disproven theories that the 2020 election was manipulated; and a self-described former 'seduction and pickup coach' who claims to also have been a hacker.... The data files are described as copies of components from election systems in Coffee County, Ga., and Antrim County, Mich.... Data security expert Harri Hursti said in a court filing ... that widespread release of server images 'lowers the barrier to planning an attack against any election management system running this Dominion software.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I don't quite understand exactly what Sidney's squad obtained & what they would do with it, but it sounds like they did compromise Dominion election systems & apparently intended to hack the systems for nefarious purposes. If not, why would you send the stuff to a seduction-coach/hacker guy? As usual, the Trump team members mind one of characters in a comic crime movie like "The Lavender Hill Mob."

Amy Wang & Peggy McGlone of the Washington Post: "The political action committee controlled by ... Donald Trump has made a $650,000 contribution to the Smithsonian Institution that will almost entirely fund portraits of Trump and former first lady Melania Trump for the National Portrait Gallery, marking the first time in recent memory that a political organization has financed a former president's portrait for the museum.... Two artists have been commissioned for the paintings of Donald and Melania Trump, but their names have not been released. The commission fees for the two Trump portraits will be $750,000, to be covered by the Save America PAC donation and a second private gift of $100,000 from an as-yet-unannounced donor, [a Smithsonian spokeswoman] said.... In the past, those portraits have been funded by private donations, usually from the supporters of the outgoing administration." ~~~

~~~ Marie: Wait, wait! I've got a Trump portrait that's almost finished! Just need to get me a few more pots of orange paint for my paint-by-numbers kit. The Smithsonian can have it for $1.

August 23, 2022

Katie Glueck of the New York Times: "A series of high-profile races will unfold on Tuesday in New York and Florida as the 2022 midterm primaries arrive in two of the nation's most populous states." Politico's story is here.

The Democrats are trying to overturn the Supreme Court's West Virginia vs. E.P.A. victory. -- Sen. Ted Cruz, on Fox Business, ahead of the Senate vote on amendments to the Clean Air Act

Ted was right. -- Marie ~~~

~~~ Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "When the Supreme Court restricted the ability of the Environmental Protection Agency to fight climate change this year, the reason it gave was that Congress had never granted the agency the broad authority to shift America away from burning fossil fuels. Now it has. Throughout the landmark climate law, passed this month, is language written specifically to address the Supreme Court's justification for reining in the E.P.A., a ruling that was one of the court's most consequential of the term. The new law amends the Clean Air Act, the country's bedrock air-quality legislation, to define the carbon dioxide produced by the burning of fossil fuels as an 'air pollutant.' That language, according to legal experts as well as the Democrats who worked it into the legislation, explicitly gives the E.P.A. the authority to regulate greenhouse gases and to use its power to push the adoption of wind, solar and other renewable energy sources.... This month, in the hours before the bill passed the Senate, Republicans waged a last-minute, mostly unsuccessful predawn battle to remove the language from the legislation." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I recall reading, on occasion, some confederate Supreme saying of a particular decision, "Well, if Congress doesn't like the ruling, they can change the law." Such remarks were made with a big helping of snide, inasmuch as the justice knew full well that Democrats would not be able to get 60 votes to override a GOP Senate filibuster. They didn't get 60 votes in this EPA matter, either, but it passed under reconciliation, which requires only a simple majority.

Katie Shepherd, et al., of the Washington Post: "Two months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, about 20.9 million women have lost access to nearly all elective abortions in their home states, and a slate of strict new trigger laws expected to take effect in the coming days will shut out even more. Texas, Tennessee and Idaho all have existing restrictions on abortion, but the laws slated to begin Thursday will either outlaw the procedure entirely or heighten penalties for doctors who perform an abortion, contributing to a seismic shift in who can access abortion in their home states. At least 11 other states have banned most abortions, prohibiting the procedure with narrow exceptions.... Five more states have similar bans temporarily blocked by the courts. If those injunctions are lifted, abortion could soon be inaccessible for millions more -- in total, 36 percent of U.S. women between the ages of 15 and 44 would be largely unable to obtain an elective abortion in the state where they live."

I am particularly proud to have served as the Chief Medical Advisor to President Joe Biden since the very first day of his administration. -- Dr. Anthony Fauci, in a statement, Monday

Funny, no mention of Trump. -- Marie ~~~

~~~ Yasmeen Abutaleb of the Washington Post: "Anthony S. Fauci, the nation's preeminent infectious-disease expert who achieved unprecedented fame while enduring withering political attacks as the face of the coronavirus pandemic response under two presidents, plans to step down in December after more than a half-century of public service, he announced Monday. Fauci, 81, has led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984. He joined the parent agency, the National Institutes of Health, in 1968 as a 27-year-old doctor who had just finished medical residency and was quickly identified as a rising star. Most recently, Fauci has also served as President Biden's chief medical adviser since the start of his administration." The Hill's report is here. Dr. Fauci's statement is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Joseph Menn, et al., of the Washington Post: "Twitter executives deceived federal regulators and the company's own board of directors about 'extreme, egregious deficiencies' in its defenses against hackers, as well as its meager efforts to fight spam, according to an explosive whistleblower complaint from its former security chief. The complaint from former head of security Peiter Zatko, a widely admired hacker known as 'Mudge,' depicts Twitter as a chaotic and rudderless company beset by infighting, unable to properly protect its 238 million daily users including government agencies, heads of state and other influential public figures. Among the most serious accusations in the complaint, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post, is that Twitter violated the terms of an 11-year-old settlement with the Federal Trade Commission by falsely claiming that it had a solid security plan. Zatko's complaint alleges he had warned colleagues that half the company's servers were running out-of-date and vulnerable software and that executives withheld dire facts about the number of breaches and lack of protection for user data, instead presenting directors with rosy charts measuring unimportant changes." CNN's report is here. ~~~

~~~ Faiz Saddiqui & Elizabeth Dwoskin of the Washington Post: "Elon Musk alleges Twitter is vastly undercounting the number of spam and bot accounts on its platform. A new whistleblower complaint from a recently fired top Twitter executive could add ammunition to that argument, though it provides little hard evidence to back up a key assertion.... And [the whistleblower] lays out another argument that could give Musk a potential boost in his fight to prove Twitter broke its contract when he agreed to acquire the company for $44 billion: that Twitter deceived regulators regarding its defenses against hackers.... Any new allegations that Twitter misled shareholders and regulators could bolster Musk's case in Delaware Chancery Court in October, according to half a dozen legal experts....

Beyond the Beltway

Arkansas. Andy Rose, et al., of CNN: "Three Arkansas law enforcement officers have been removed from duty and are under investigation, their departments confirmed, after bystander video captured at least two of them punching and kneeing a suspect during an arrest Sunday. At one point in the 34-second video, one of the officers also appears to lift the suspect's head and slam it into the pavement. A Crawford County Sheriff's Department Facebook post identifies the law enforcement personnel involved in the arrest as sheriff's deputies Zack King and Levi White and officer Thell Riddle of the Mulberry Police Department. CNN has reached out to the deputies and officer." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Colorado. Brad Reed of the Raw Story: "Republican Colorado State Sen. Kevin Priola on Monday announced that he was leaving the GOP to become a Democrat -- and he said that ... Donald Trump's lies about the 2020 election were a major factor. In a letter Priola released on Monday, the one-time Colorado Republican said that his former party's reaction to the January 6 riots at the United States Capitol made it impossible for him to continue identifying with it. 'I cannot continue to be a part of a political party that is okay with a violent attempt to overturn a free and fair election and continues to peddle claims that the 2020 election was stolen,' he wrote. He also said he's been dismayed by the way that the GOP has tried to hound out anyone within the party who has tried to hold Trump accountable." Update: A Guardian story is here.

Georgia Senate Race. "Enough Trees." John Wagner of the Washington Post: "In an appearance Sunday..., [Republican Senate nominee Herschel] Walker reiterated his opposition to the Inflation Reduction Act, signed by [President] Biden last week, that invests in curbing global warming, among other things. 'They continue to try to fool you that they are helping you out. But they're not,' Walker said. 'Because a lot of money, it's going to trees. Don't we have enough trees around here?' It's possible Walker might have been referring to a provision in the law that allocates $1.5 billion to the U.S. Forest Service's Urban and Community Forestry Program." MB: Well, Georgia does have more privately-ownered timberland than any other U.S. state, and it's a global leader in the forest industry. And a couple of national forests, too. So yeah, lots of trees around there.

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Tuesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates for Tuesday are here. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Tuesday are here: "Russia is preparing to launch more strikes against Ukraine's civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days, the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv warned ahead of Ukrainian Independence Day on Wednesday. The Pentagon is set to send more weapons to Ukraine to help fight Russian troops at closer ranges.... [The father of Daria Dugina -- who was killed in a car explosion last week --] Alexander Dugin, an ally of ... Vladimir Putin, called for 'more than just revenge' after his daughter's killing. Hundreds attended a memorial ceremony Tuesday, and Dugina's father said her 'ultimate sacrifice, the highest price we pay, can only be justified by victory' in Ukraine."

News Ledes

New York Times: "A woman shot and killed two people and injured a third in Midtown Atlanta on Monday, prompting an extensive search by multiple law enforcement agencies that led to her arrest at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the police said. The daytime shooting drew heavily armed police officers to busy midtown on Monday afternoon and briefly led the police to urge residents to stay off the streets as they searched for the person responsible for the shooting. About two hours after shooting, the Atlanta Police said that a woman had been arrested at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and that officers had recovered a handgun. The police did not immediately release the woman's name or a possible motive."

Washington Post: "Streets and highways around Dallas[, Texas,] remained waterlogged Monday afternoon after flash floods struck the Dallas-Fort Worth area overnight, leaving at least one person dead. Signs of flooding lingered even after the rain mostly cleared from the metroplex."

August 22, 2022

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Kyle Cheney of Politico: "The federal magistrate judge who authorized the warrant to search Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate emphasized Monday that he 'carefully reviewed' the FBI's sworn evidence before signing off and considers the facts contained in an accompanying affidavit to be 'reliable.' Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart offered his assessment in a 13-page order memorializing his decision to consider whether to unseal portions of the affidavit, which describe the evidence the bureau relied on to justify the search of the former president's home. Reinhart ruled last week that he would consider unsealing portions of the affidavit after conferring with the Justice Department and determining whether proposed redactions would be sufficient to protect the ongoing criminal investigation connected to the search. But in his order, Reinhart emphasized that he may ultimately agree with prosecutors that any redactions would be so extensive that they would render the document useless." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh yeah? That's what Politico says. Bearing in mind that Politico is somewhat right-wingy, it is not nearly right-wingy enough. The headline on the Fox "News"' report covering the same judge's same ruling is, "Judge Reinhart formally rejects DOJ argument to keep Trump affidavit sealed, calls raid 'unprecedented.'" This is largely bull. The written order backs up Judge Reinhart's oral order delivered last week, telling the prosecution to produce a redacted copy of the affidavit for his consideration. In the order, Reinhart acknowledges that it's possible that "partial redactions will be so extensive that they will result in a meaningless disclosure, but I may ultimately reach that conclusion...." As for a "raid" on Mar-a-Lardo, I did a wordsearch of the judge's order, and the only reference to a "raid" is a Business Insider headline & link about how Breitbart & a former Trump aide have doxxed FBI agents involved in the search. Judge Reinhart does not use the term "raid." As for "unprecedented," well, yeah. Reinhart does refer to "an unprecedented search of a former President's residence." That's because law enforcement has never had to search the home of a real president. Since the passage in 1978 of the Presidential Records Act ( in response to \ Nixon's plan to retain his papers [and tapes!]), no real president has been suspected of stealing documents & other items from the White House.

I am particularly proud to have served as the Chief Medical Advisor to President Joe Biden since the very first day of his administration. -- Dr. Anthony Fauci, in a statement, Monday

Funny, no mention of Trump. -- Marie ~~~

~~~ Yasmeen Abutaleb of the Washington Post: "Anthony S. Fauci, the nation's preeminent infectious-disease expert who achieved unprecedented fame while enduring withering political attacks as the face of the coronavirus pandemic response under two presidents, plans to step down in December after more than a half-century of public service, he announced Monday. Fauci, 81, has led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984. He joined the parent agency, the National Institutes of Health, in 1968 as a 27-year-old doctor who had just finished medical residency and was quickly identified as a rising star. Most recently, Fauci has also served as President Biden's chief medical adviser since the start of his administration." The Hill's report is here. Dr. Fauci's statement is here.

Arkansas. Andy Rose, et al., of CNN: "Three Arkansas law enforcement officers have been removed from duty and are under investigation, their departments confirmed, after bystander video captured at least two of them punching and kneeing a suspect during an arrest Sunday. At one point in the 34-second video, one of the officers also appears to lift the suspect's head and slam it into the pavement. A Crawford County Sheriff's Department Facebook post identifies the law enforcement personnel involved in the arrest as sheriff's deputies Zack King and Levi White and officer Thell Riddle of the Mulberry Police Department. CNN has reached out to the deputies and officer."

~~~~~~~~~~

Nick Miroff & Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "The Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said Sunday that public pressure to unseal the affidavit used in the search of ... Donald Trump's Florida home could put FBI agents at personal risk or be used by Trump's attorneys to intimidate witnesses. Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) told CNN's 'State of the Union' that he understood the public interest in seeing the affidavit "is real" but cautioned of the unintended consequences of releasing the document. 'I think the government makes a powerful case that at the early stage of the investigation, when it could jeopardize the pursuit of justice, this is not the time to be giving essentially the Trump lawyers a road map into how to intimidate witnesses or how to derail a legitimate investigation,' Schiff said.:

Short-time Insurrectionist. David Edwards of the Raw Story: "Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) has refused to speak to the Jan. 6 Committee because his participation in a plot to overturn the 2020 presidential election only lasted 'a couple seconds.'.... [Matt Smith of WISN (Milwaukee) asked Johnson about his participation in an effort to pass a slate of fake electors to Vice President Pence on January 6, 2021.] The senator said that he 'fielded three texts and sent two and talked to my chief of staff that somebody wants to deliver something.... I knew nothing about it,' he added.... Johnson insisted that it was wrong to look at the plot to overturn the election as a 'massive conspiracy.' 'I had virtually no involvement!' he asserted. 'Literally, my involvement lasted seconds. OK?' Johnson initially denied having any knowledge of the alternate electors." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The lede appears to be misleading. As far as I can tell from the rest of the report, the committee has not asked Johnson to testify. Smith asked Johnson if he would testify, and Johnson gave a non-answer answer: "What would they ask me to testify about?"

Richard Fausset of the New York Times: "A federal appeals court temporarily blocked Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, on Sunday from testifying in the investigation into efforts by ... Donald J. Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia. The appeals court instructed a lower court to determine whether Mr. Graham should be exempt from answering certain kinds of questions, given his status as a federal lawmaker. The ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit gives a temporary reprieve to Mr. Graham, who has been fighting prosecutors' efforts to bring him before a special grand jury.... Mr. Graham has argued, among other things, that he should be exempt from testifying under the U.S. Constitution's speech and debate clause, which prohibits asking lawmakers about their legitimate legislative functions. The appeals court laid out further steps on Sunday that must be taken before Mr. Graham gives any testimony." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ According to a Politico story by Josh Gerstein & Kyle Cheney, two of the judges were Trump appointees & one was a Clinton appointee. "The appeals court called its Sunday morning action a 'limited remand' and said the subpoena would essentially be put on hold while the possibility of constraints on the scope of questioning of Graham is hashed out at the district court." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'm sorry, but "Throw out a bunch of votes in your Democratic-leaning counties" is not a legislative function of the U.S. Congress.

Michael Bender, et al., of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump has endorsed more than 200 candidates for state and federal office during the 2022 midterm elections, an unusually wide-ranging effort by a former president to consolidate and enhance his personal political influence.... His endorsements fall into two major categories: election deniers who have openly spread the lie that he won in 2020, and incumbents whose likely victories == in some cases uncontested -- help sensationalize his power inside the party." The article IDs some of the candidates Trump has endorsed.

The Worst Supreme Court Since Dred Scott. KK Ottesen, in the Washington Post, interviews Constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe: In response to questions, Tribe says, "I have no doubt that the court is at a point that is far more dangerous and damaging to the country than at any other point, probably, since Dred Scott. And, in a way, because we even find Justice [Clarence] Thomas going back and citing Dred Scott favorably in his opinion on firearms, the court is dragging the country back into a terrible, terrible time.... And when they've got the votes, they don't even care if they have the reasoning.... I think there are five Robert Borks on the court right now.... And they are, in fact, probably to his right -- that is, Robert Bork at least seemed to believe in preserving those aspects of free speech that conduced to meaningful democratic self-governance. That is, I didn't see in Robert Bork the disregard for democracy, writ large, that I see in the current Supreme Court majority led by Clarence Thomas."

Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Putin's Door. Jonathan Allen of NBC News: "Former NBA player Dennis Rodman said Saturday that he plans to visit Russia to seek the release of Brittney Griner, the WNBA star who was sentenced to nine years in prison on drug charges earlier this month. 'I got permission to go to Russia to help that girl,' Rodman told NBC News at a restaurant in D.C. 'I'm trying to go this week.' He is more likely to hurt than help, said a senior Biden administration official." MB: It isn't clear who gave Rodman this "permission" inasmuch as the State Department has issued a blanket advisory warning Americans not to travel to Russia.

How to Cover Trumpolini. Margaret Sullivan of the Washington Post: "This is my last column for The Post.... The media has come a long, long way in figuring out how to cover the democracy-threatening ways of Donald Trump and his allies, including his stalwart helpers in right-wing media.... Journalists ... have to be willing to show their readers, viewers and listeners that electing him again would be dangerous.... Journalists simply can't allow themselves to be megaphones or stenographers.... If Trump runs [for president again], as [Jonathan] Karl put it, he will be running 'against the very democratic system that makes this all possible.' And he's bringing the vast bulk of the Republican Party along with him. So my prescription -- and it's only a start -- is less live campaign coverage, more context and thoughtful framing, and more fearless straight talk from news leaders about what's at stake and why politics coverage looks different." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Political coverage always should have "looked different." I recall begging Peter Baker of the New York Times years ago to stop with the both-sides, he-said/she-said reports, and he said he didn't know what I was talking about. He looked dumbfounded when I explained, a la Stephen Colbert, that just writing down what a politician says is stenography, not reporting. He clearly thought I was a crazed woman. But over the past decade, even Baker & his cohort have learned to write, "claimed without evidence." I guess that's progress.

Zach Montague of the New York Times: "Jill Biden, the first lady, left isolation after testing negative for the coronavirus on Sunday, nearly a week after she tested positive while on vacation in South Carolina. Dr. Biden had been isolating in a private residence there, but joined President Biden in Rehoboth, Del., on Sunday, according to a statement from Elizabeth Alexander, her communications director.... Dr. Biden, who was up to date on vaccines and has received two booster shots, only experienced mild symptoms, according to her office. She had also been prescribed the antiviral pill Paxlovid, a treatment that reduces the effects of a coronavirus infection."

Beyond the Beltway

Kansas. Heather Hollingsworth & John Hanna of the AP: "A decisive statewide vote in favor of abortion rights in traditionally conservative Kansas was confirmed with a partial hand recount, with fewer than 100 votes changing after the last county reported results Sunday. Nine of the state's 105 counties recounted their votes at the request of Melissa Leavitt, who has pushed for tighter election laws. A longtime anti-abortion activist, Mark Gietzen, is covering most of the costs. Gietzen acknowledged in an interview that it was unlikely to change the outcome."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Monday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Monday are here: "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has drawn another red line in potential negotiations with Moscow to end the war. Russian-backed authorities are reportedly planning to hold a trial on Aug. 24 -- Ukraine-s Independence Day -- for the fighters captured during their final defense of the Azovstal steel plant in the battle for Mariupol. Here's the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.... A number of theories, as yet unsubstantiated, are circulating about the cause of a car bomb that killed the daughter of Putin ally Alexander Dugin outside Moscow on Saturday. It could create a flash point, even as Ukrainian officials denied any involvement in the blast and suggested it could be the result of an internal dispute within Russia."

Pakistan. Salman Masood & Christina Goldbaum of the Washington Post: "Pakistan's former prime minister, Imran Khan, was charged under the country's antiterrorism act on Sunday, in a drastic escalation of the tense power struggle between the country's current government and its former leader that threatens to set off a fresh round of public unrest and turmoil. The charges came a day after Mr. Khan, the former cricket star who was ousted from power in a no-confidence vote in April, gave an impassioned speech to hundreds of supporters at a rally in the capital, Islamabad, condemning the recent arrest of one of his top aides and threatening senior police officers and a judge involved in the case. 'We will not spare you,' Mr. Khan said, vowing to file legal cases against them. The police report detailing the charges against the former prime minister said that his comments amounted to a deliberate and illegal attempt to intimidate the country's judiciary and police force, local news outlets reported." An AP report is here.

South Korea/U.S. Kim Tong-Hyung of the AP: "The United States and South Korea began their biggest combined military training in years Monday as they heighten their defense posture against the growing North Korean nuclear threat.... The Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises will continue through Sept. 1 in South Korea and include field exercises involving aircraft, warships, tanks and potentially tens of thousands of troops. While Washington and Seoul describe their exercises as defensive, North Korea portrays them as invasion rehearsals and has used them to justify its nuclear weapons and missiles development."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Stocks on Wall Street slid on Monday, with the S&P 500 dropping by the most it has in over two months, as a speech this week by Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, loomed over investors who are focused on the path for interest rates in the months ahead. The benchmark index fell 2.1 percent, its sharpest daily decline since June 16. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite dropped 2.5 percent, nearly erasing its gains for August."

New York Times: "One person who had been hiking Friday at a national park in Utah remained missing on Sunday and about 200 people at a national park in New Mexico were trapped for several hours on Saturday amid heavy rain and flash flooding in parts of the Southwest."